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Kalshi has become the first US entity to offer regulated perpetual futures, recording over $1 billion in trading volume during its first week of operation.
Kalshi has become the first federally regulated entity in the United States to offer perpetual futures contracts, recording more than $1 billion in notional trading volume within its first seven days of operation [1]. The platform, which previously focused on event-based prediction markets, saw over $100 million in trading activity during the first 24 hours after the product launch [1].
Key takeaways
Perpetual futures function similarly to traditional futures contracts but lack an expiration date, allowing traders to hold leveraged positions on assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum for as long as they choose [1]. While these instruments have seen significant global adoption, with annual volumes exceeding $90 trillion, they were previously unavailable to American traders in a regulated capacity [1]. Before this launch, US participants were largely restricted to offshore platforms, which often carry counterparty risks [1].
Kalshi’s entry into this market is part of a broader expansion for the exchange, which was founded in 2018 and gained status as a licensed prediction market in 2020 [1]. Ahead of the perpetual futures rollout, the company reported a waitlist of over 1 million users [1]. The platform’s total annualized trading volume across all products reached $178 billion, supported by a recent $1 billion Series F funding round [1].
The introduction of a regulated perpetual futures product provides a new on-ramp for institutional investors, including family offices and registered investment advisors [1]. These entities are typically bound by compliance frameworks that prevent them from using unregulated offshore exchanges [1]. By offering these instruments under a CFTC-approved wrapper, Kalshi aims to bridge the gap between the massive global market for perpetual futures and the strict regulatory requirements of the US financial system [1].
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AI-assisted synthesis by the TrendWatcher Editorial Desk · sourced from 2 outlets · Jun 12, 2026 ·
Traditional futures have a pre-specified delivery date and require rolling over contracts, whereas perpetual futures can be held indefinitely and use a funding mechanism to maintain price alignment.
The funding mechanism is used to periodically exchange payments between long and short holders to keep the perpetual contract price close to the underlying asset's price.
While perpetual futures markets primarily developed within the cryptocurrency sector, they are increasingly being used for pre-IPO stocks and were originally conceptualized for illiquid assets like real estate.
High-leverage trading can lead to rapid liquidations, and some platforms employ auto-deleveraging, where profitable traders may forfeit a portion of their gains to cover the losses of others during high volatility.